Murder In America
EP. 191: GEORGIA - The Child In The Trash Bag: The Disturbing Murder of Amari Hall
Fri, 28 Feb 2025
In 2021, the body of a young 8-year-old girl named Amari Hall was found wrapped up in a trash bag in a wooded area in Gwinnett County, Georgia. But as investigators pieced together what had happened to her, at the hands of her mothers, an incredibly disturbing story began to unfold... - Listen to our new show, "THE CONSPIRACY FILES"!: -Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5IY9nWD2MYDzlSYP48nRPl -Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-conspiracy-files/id1752719844 -Amazon/Audible - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/ab1ade99-740c-46ae-8028-b2cf41eabf58/the-conspiracy-files -Pandora - https://www.pandora.com/podcast/the-conspiracy-files/PC:1001089101 -iHeart - https://iheart.com/podcast/186907423/ -PocketCast - https://pca.st/dpdyrcca -CastBox - https://castbox.fm/channel/id6193084?country=us - Stay Connected: Join the Murder in America fam in our free Facebook Community for a behind-the-scenes look, more insights and current events in the true crime world: https://www.facebook.com/groups/4365229996855701 If you want even more Murder in America bonus content, including ad-free episodes, come join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/murderinamerica Instagram: http://instagram.com/murderinamerica/ Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/people/Murder-in-America-Podcast/100086268848682/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/MurderInAmerica TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@theparanormalfiles and https://www.tiktok.com/@courtneybrowen Feeling spooky? Follow Colin as he travels state to state (and even country to country!) investigating claims of extreme paranormal activity and visiting famous haunted locations on The Paranormal Files Official Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheParanormalFilesOfficialChannel - (c) BLOOD IN THE SINK PRODUCTIONS 2025 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Chapter 1: What is the tragic story of Amari Hall?
On a cold November night in 2021, eight-year-old Amari Hall suddenly disappeared from the hometown studios, an extended stay hotel in the Peachtree Corners area of Gwinnett County, Georgia. Amari's mother, Brittany Hall, claimed that Amari fell asleep at around 10 p.m., safe and sound inside the hotel room. However, when she woke up that next morning, Amari was nowhere to be found.
and disturbingly, the door to the hotel room was left ajar. Investigators in Georgia worked tirelessly to find the little girl, and in the beginning, they had hope that she would be found alive. However, with each passing hour, investigators were growing more and more suspicious of the main people in Amari's life.
There were timelines that didn't match up, lies exposed, and cell phone data that painted a horrible picture of child abuse and torture. And sadly, this story would end in the worst way you can imagine. So this is the story of Amari Hall. I'm Courtney Browen.
And I'm Colin Browen.
And you're listening to Murder in America.
On October 30, 2013, a little baby girl named Emori Nicole Hall was brought into the world. It was Brittany Hall's first child, and even though the father wasn't in the picture, Brittany was excited to venture into motherhood. But being a single mother isn't easy. Luckily for her, Brittany's mother, Barbara Wright, was more than willing to help her out.
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Chapter 2: How did Brittany Hall's life unfold before Amari's disappearance?
Soon after her birth, Brittany and baby Amore moved in with Barbara and her husband, Tony, in their home located in DeKalb County, Georgia. And for the first few years of Amore's life, things were going well. She had a good support system. She was surrounded by people who loved her.
barbara who amari called gigi said that growing up amore was a curious intelligent and vibrant child who enjoyed playing dress up and helping her grandmother cook barbara said that she will never forget the first time they made cornbread together amore helped her crack the eggs stir the batter and butter the pan and when it was time to pull it out of the oven amore's eyes lit up she was so proud of herself making something with her own two hands and watching it form into what she said looked like a beautiful cake
A few years later in June of 2015, Brittany Hall would give birth to her second daughter named Zaire. And by then, Barbara's house was feeling a little crowded. So she actually decided to help her daughter Brittany get an apartment of her own. For the first time in years, Brittany was on her own and she now had two young children. Things weren't easy.
And every so often she would send the kids back with her mom, Barbara, when she was feeling overwhelmed. Now the following year on September 19th, 2016, Brittany would give birth to her third child, a son named Jakari. And he had the same father as her second daughter, Zaire. But from what I could tell, the father wasn't very present in the children's lives. So after the birth of her third kid,
Brittany decided to move back in with her mother for a period of time. Barbara wanted to make sure the kids were taken care of. And once Brittany was back on her feet, she would once again move back out on her own. Here is Barbara Wright.
Because when I'm old school, so when your daughter has a baby, you know, your mom comes in to help take care and make sure everything's okay. And then she went back to her apartment. Not a long time, yeah. She had gotten used to raising the kids.
So as you can see, the first few years of Amari's life were a little unstable, having to move back and forth between her mother and grandmother's house. But in the end, she was cared for. Her grandmother, Barbara, stated that Amari was the brightest light. She brought a smile to everyone around her. And like every little girl, she had dreams of what she wanted to become when she was older.
And Amari wanted to be a hairdresser. Any chance she could, Amari was playing with everyone's hair. And if it wasn't her mom or grandma's hair, she was doing her doll's hair.
What about her hair? Did she love her hair?
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Chapter 3: What were the circumstances surrounding Amari's disappearance?
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Officer Sorensen learned that Brittany and Celeste had been living at the hotel for nearly four months. They moved there after being forced to leave the Congress Inn due to it permanently closing. But as he walked around their small hotel room that morning, he noticed that not only were there no toys for the three young children, but that there was not a designated area for homeschooling.
There were no computers, school books, or even pencils and markers to indicate that Brittany did in fact homeschool her kids. The reality was they weren't being homeschooled. Officers also discovered multiple trash bags around the room with various items of clothing, some of which were soiled with urine.
In one bag located to the left of the bed, they found a children's diaper that was wrapped in duct tape and a set of rubber gloves. On top of the refrigerator was a box of white trash bags in a bottle of bleach. Now to an investigator, these items may raise some red flags, but there was nothing that screamed that Amari was met with foul play, at least not in this hotel room.
So from here, investigators speak with Brittany, Amari's mom, and they want to get any information they can. Brittany once again told the officers that Amari had gone to sleep on Saturday, November 20th, at around 10 p.m. And once she was asleep, Brittany took a lift to the BP gas station.
She admitted that she was only gone for around 20 minutes and that her girlfriend Celeste stayed behind to watch the kids. Brittany said that when she returned, Amari was still sleeping in the room. Now her girlfriend Celeste told officers that after Brittany came back home from the store,
she had her sister pick her up and take her to her grandmother's house so she could babysit her niece and nephew and celeste claimed that she was there all night long in fact she said she came back to the hotel at around 5 that morning so naturally when celeste tells the officers this they have some questions the first thing they ask is when you came back to the hotel room this morning
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Chapter 4: What were the inconsistencies in Brittany and Celeste's stories?
Me and my sister? Yeah. Yeah, we went somewhere.
Where'd you guys ride to?
Back to my...
grandma's house 15 30 and took her and your sister drove her car i think it was her boyfriend's car i really can't remember because i remember her telling me that her car was fixing but her car she drives is a white toyota what car did you did you guys ride in it was a black car like a nissan so you and your sister go to grandma's house and about uh what time do you think you left with your sister at grandma's house you said
The time I left? Yeah. As soon as she got back, 10 o'clock.
So that would probably be 10 or 11 p.m.? Yeah. About how long do you think you were at Grandma's house for?
When I left, I came back at, I would say four hours, because then I came back before five. It was like early months. My son wasn't probably in love, but it was daylight. And that's when I noticed when I
just walked up to the door and pushed us and you know that's kind of strange and then that's when I came in I kicked off my shoes I laid in the bed and I closed the door so you so you get back and your sister drops you off and that's between four and five in the morning and you said you go in and how was how did you get in the room do you have like a key card you use you knock I normally knock but see this time when I went I went like this but sometimes with that door you have to
times with the door, not all the time. So I noticed before I went to knock on my first one, it kind of went in. So that's when I laid on the bed and I was like, you know, but he didn't close it all the way. And I was a bit tired. So I don't know if I put the latch on or off, but it really don't matter because Maury's almost my height and she can easily push that in and
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Chapter 5: What did the interrogation of Celeste Owens reveal?
We don't have any problems with your lifestyle. We don't care. Okay? That's you. You do you.
Okay?
Okay, that's fine. We just, right now, we're just trying to figure out where everybody was. Okay? That's it. All right? We don't care what you're involved in, what you're not involved in. We don't care about your lifestyle. Okay? You do you. Okay? But we do need, for these few hours, to know exactly what happened, who you hung out with, where you were. That way we can verify all that information.
We can put the puzzle pieces together. And we can try to figure out where this kid is going.
At this point in the interview, detectives ask Celeste what she believes happened to Amari. And immediately, she starts talking about Amari's behavioral issues, something that her grandmother Barbara said was completely fabricated.
And with all that said, what do you think happened with Nicole?
I'm going to tell you from my personal experience. So when I first came around here, which was two years ago when I got back with Brittany, because we were together before she had kids. And then we separated, and then we came back together. My one-on-one relationship with her was, she was a sweet child, but the only thing was her behavioral problems.
Like, when she didn't get her way, she would literally, like, punch herself. And it's like, Maura, why are you doing it? Because I first noticed it when Brittany had left and went to go grocery shopping. We were staying in Robin Landon in Decatur a long time ago.
that's when I was like, you know, you know, I came to a person, I said, Brittany, you know, she, when I told her no for something, she hit herself in the face and she was like, you know, just bear with me. You know, I'm getting her help. Cause she was going through speech therapy. She did have two therapists for her speech and to help, you know, with her.
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Chapter 6: What was the role of Brittany's other children in the investigation?
I'm still working on other officers and stuff. As far as my knowledge right now, she was not seen on the camera. Okay. As far as my knowledge now, we have an officer who just came in with a bunch of receipts that he just spent several hours going through. We have several people working on this. Okay. So we're trying to get everything figured out. Okay.
I'd like to continue talking to you about this. I don't. You know, I don't want to prolong this as much as you don't want to prolong this. The moment we can find the calm we had this over with is the best thing.
I'm not detained.
Okay.
Correct.
That's correct.
I'm not detained, so I'm free to go whenever I want to. So the fact that I'm even willing to sit with you and go through this, I could have been a bonehead and said, oh, I'm out.
Which if you did that, then that would not be nice at all. But you wouldn't know me.
You have a child. But you wouldn't know me. You see what I'm saying? You wouldn't know me.
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